


You Did Get One Ally Out of It

by fandomworshipper



Series: Vigilante, pirate, space pirate, criminal, I've had it all [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ....loosely, Awkward Flirting, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Getting Together, M/M, Mostly...., Non-binary Pidge (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, Romantic Tension, Space Pirates, Vigilante Lance (Voltron), sorta... kinda..
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25772998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomworshipper/pseuds/fandomworshipper
Summary: “Keith! Buddy! Long time no see!” Lance was still waving as he approached them. Keith wondered distantly if smiling that hard hurt his cheeks.--Part 2 to Vigilante, Pirate, Space Pirate, Criminal--
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Vigilante, pirate, space pirate, criminal, I've had it all [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677172
Comments: 8
Kudos: 106





	You Did Get One Ally Out of It

**Author's Note:**

> I know its been a very long time since i wrote the first one, but i worked super hard on this, so i hope you enjoy this! i bothered my friends a lot about this and id like to give some very special and very smiley thanks to ButImACheerleader ( archiveofourown.org/users/ButImACheerleader/ ) for helping me reword some of the last scene and put up with my stupid humour. She also has a new work out so if any of yall like ace attorney check that out
> 
> also lol hello its me five minutes later and i straight up forgot to tag the realtionship im so stupid anyways i fixed that
> 
> anyways thank you very much for reading, enjoy my klance brainrot

Keith had definitely walked in on this at the wrong time.

He was all ready to just slip quietly back out, avoid getting wrapped up in the near-palpable tension in the room when the doors flew shut noisily inches from his back. He flinched, eyes snapping up to look back at Allura and Shiro in the middle of the room.

Shiro’s gaze flicked momentarily to look at Keith, but Allura seemed so wrapped up in… _whatever_ it was that was happening that she didn’t notice him.

“So, he’s – what, he has vital information about the next alliance we’re making, does he? And he just decided to contact _us_ for the good of the universe, did he? Even though he has _never met us_?”

Hunk slid a fraction closer to where Allura had her arms braced on the control panel, eyes wide with apprehension as he spoke. “He said he knew one of us, if we gave him a chance maybe we could…” He trailed off, swallowing nervously under Allura’s glower.

“Need I remind you all that there has never been another human in space—other than your moon, as I have already been informed, _thank you_ , Pidge—so _how_ is it possible that he is from Terra? It is obviously bait.”

A strangled noise tore its way out of Keith’s throat, and five sets of eyes snapped onto him, each looking at him with varying levels of intensity.

“Yes, Keith?” Allura’s tone was clipped.

“I— uh—” Keith paused, biting his lip. Allura held his gaze for another couple of ticks before beginning to turn away. “He said he was human?”

She looked back at him, eyes narrowed. “It’s unlikely to be true, but yes, that is what he told us in his message.”

“Who— what did he say?” Keith said, wringing his hands as he waited.

Allura sighed, pressing delicate fingers to her temple as she blew up an incredibly grainy image of a face on the screen with the other hand.

Keith squinted at the picture, only realising he’d been walking towards it when he bumped into the control panel beside Hunk. He moved to crane his neck, cocking his head.

In a sudden flurry of movement, the image burst into life, a tinny voice starting halfway through a sentence as the person waved their hands about.

 _“—ran into one of you guys before, I think, but I don’t know if you’d remember, or whatever.”_ There’s a beat of silence. _“Oh, it only just started recording? Damn. Ok. Alright. Hi, I’m Lance, from Earth and I know some stuff about”_ —he squints at a screen to his right— _“Thuubous, is its name, apparently. But, yeah, I heard you guys were just there, doing your alliance thing, and there’s some stuff you should probably know before you, uh… finalise any of that. And I’m pretty much able to meet anywhere that isn’t Galra territory. And I’ve attached my details to the signal. I think. OK. Right.”_ He nods. _“Thanks, adios!”_

Keith stood for a moment, relaxing from where he’d jumped away from the screen. He looked up, remembering that the five other people were all waiting for him to explain his reaction. He cleared his throat.

“Yeah, I, uh, ran into him a couple of phoebs ago, actually.”

No one moved.

“On— when I had to get those crystals. On the planet… with… the crystals?” His voice pitched up as if it was a question.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” It was Pidge that asked, leaning over the back of their chair and shoving their glasses up their nose.

“It didn’t seem important at the time.”

Hunk snorted. “Yeah, I guess you didn’t expect him to turn up in our distress signal inbox with the most ominous message we’ve ever heard about the planet we’re supposed to be allying with.”

Keith bobbed awkwardly.

Allura let out an irritated puff of air, pushing herself up away from the control panel, and turned to Keith.

“Do you trust him?”

Instinctively, he nodded. It took him a second to realise he had.

She pursed her lips, brows drawing together before she sighed again, defeated. She turned to address the group.

“Alright, paladins, I must agree that this could be important. Pidge, are you able to respond? Did he provide his details? He didn’t seem sure.”

Pidge glanced at their laptop. “They were encrypted — cheaply, easily interceptable — but yeah, he did. Not coordinates or anything, though. He doesn’t seem to be completely stupid.”

“Good. Hunk, Pidge, if you could attempt to contact him that would be… great.” Allura nodded to herself, turning and beginning to walk towards the door. She paused for a moment, looking to Keith with a frown. “On second thought, perhaps Keith should help you two.”

***

Lance was late. Which was not helping sell Keith’s whole trust-Lance-because-he-was-nice thing.

After two movements’ worth of deliberations, Lance had finally managed to convince Allura and the paladins that meeting with him _wasn’t_ a terrible idea, and _no_ , he wasn’t going to try and kill them, and it _wasn’t a trap, Dios mÍo!_ _How many times!_

To his credit, he had gotten the names of the monarchs of Thuubous right, and he’d also known enough about the planet to warrant Coran’s approval when they spoke over a video call. However, Allura had been very clearly suspicious of the way he’d stiffened when asked how he knew said monarchs.

And yet, despite her unease, she had agreed to have Voltron meet with him in some town on Zhraphis.

That was as much as Keith knew, or at least as much information as he had retained past leaving the briefing room that morning.

“He’s sent a message,” Pidge muttered, pulling their communicator out of their bag and flicking it on. They shifted uncomfortably on the scalloped edge of the fountain, frowning as they read what Lance had said. “’Be there soon tell—’ who— ‘tell samurai I said hi.’ Apparently. I’m gonna assume he means you.” They looked up questioningly at Keith.

Keith flushed. “I, uh, yeah. Probably.”

An expression crossed their face that Keith couldn’t quite place. They opened their mouth to respond but shut it quickly when the whoosh of heavy breaks cut through the air and strong, warm wind made the ground-cover plants quiver in pulsing waves.

Keith pushed the hair out of his face and turned, squinting past the glare of the setting sun to the ship cutting a stark silhouette against the blushing sky. It touched down surprisingly gently, the pointed nose nestling in the tall grass as it slid to a stop.

A moment later, the hatch opened, and Lance tumbled out in all his waving, grinning, glowing glory, and he was so bright and lovely Keith almost had to look away.

Almost.

“Keith! Buddy! Long time no see!” Lance was still waving as he approached them. Keith wondered distantly if smiling that hard hurt his cheeks.

Lance reached the edge of the fountain, turning his mega-watt smile on the others, and Pidge grimaced a little at his enthusiasm.

“Wow, look at all of you! Voltron all together, huh? Could I get your names?”

Shiro looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, before glancing at Keith and extending a tentative hand. “It’s nice to meet you in person, Lance. I’m Shiro, the Black Paladin.”

“Cool,” Lance shook his hand enthusiastically. He then spun on his heel and looked expectantly at Pidge and Hunk.

“You two seem to know each other better than you let on,” Shiro said, a sly edge to the sidelong look he gave Keith.

Keith frowned past the pink that gathered on his cheekbones, crossing his arms. “Not really. He’s just… enthusiastic.”

Shiro hummed in response, but his eyes didn’t shift.

Keith didn’t have time to dwell on that, though, as Lance had apparently finished being introduced to Pidge and Hunk and had reappeared in front of Keith.

His smile softened, and Keith could see the way his eyes twinkled along with it from how close Lance was standing.

“Hey, again.”

Keith shifted. “Hi.”

Lance smirked. “Miss me?”

Shiro snorted. “Alright. Lance, you said you have information about Thuubous? Is this a secure enough location?”

Lance leant back out Keith’s space, expression turning serious as he nodded. “It should be. This planet hasn’t been targeted by Galra, didn’t Coran say? The only people who wouldn’t want this out would be the Zarkon gang.”

Shiro’s eyebrows shot up. “And why’s that?”

Lance stepped back and perched on the edge of the fountain to Hunk’s left. “Do you want the quick answer or the full one?”

“As much as you know,” Pidge said, leaning forward to look at him better, “and the reasons we should believe you.”

“Right,” Lance nodded. “So, I should probably start by saying they have links. With the Galran Empire, I mean. That’s the short answer. But if you want a reason to believe me…”

He sucked in a breath and cleared his throat, kicking at the dust under his shoes.

“So the Heir, Ivraik, they, uh” —he scratched at the back of his neck— “we, uh, had a thing, for a bit, but they broke it off with me because of their parents, they said.” He took a breath. “We weren’t anything serious, so it felt super weird that they’d even said anything, but it turned out their parents had set up an arranged marriage for them. And the guy is a Galra general. They set it up as a peace treaty or something, I think. Marrying into the Empire, giving up their independence willingly to keep their planet safe. I don’t think they knew the Galra have a bounty on my head when they told me about their parents’ deal.”

He looked up, taking in the paladins’ faces. “I don’t expect you to believe me right now, I know your scary boss lady doesn’t like me, but, yeah. I thought if you knew that, you might be more cautious about this whole thing. I didn’t want Voltron running into a trap if I could’ve done something to stop it.”

When Keith looked at him, he saw that Lance’s eyes were already on him.

Shiro was the first to speak.

“And we have your word that everything you’ve said is true?”

Lance nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“How do we know _you_ aren’t with the Galra?” Pidge cocked an eyebrow.

Lance’s face twisted. “Other than the fact that they try to kill me on the regular?”

Pidge looked at Keith. He nodded, and they shrugged.

“I mean,” Hunk started, looking to the others, “I don’t know what he’d get out of lying. And it’s not like the Galra would send out _one_ guy to tell us not to ally with _one_ planet, either. They’re way too efficient for that.”

The group nodded slowly, and a feeling of warmth settled in Keith’s chest.

“And this is probably something we should tell Allura,” Hunk added.

***

“The worst part is he was right.” Allura shook her head. “It would have been such a good alliance to have had — it could have been an anchor to ally with the other colonies in that solar system. But…”

Shiro smiled sadly. “I know, Princess.”

 _“Hey, look on the bright side,”_ Lance chimed in from the screen, feet up on his ship’s dashboard as he cruised, _“you did get_ one _ally out of it.”_ He waited a moment before rolling his wrist to point at his face.

Allura looked less than impressed.

_“Well, at least Keith’s glad I’m here.”_

“You’re _not_ here,” Keith said, not looking up from where he was sharpening his blade.

 _“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I_ will _be there in, like, twenty minutes. Sorry, doboshes.”_

“You’d get here faster if you didn’t fly exclusively with cruise control.”

_“Ooh, eager to see me, then, samurai?”_

***

****

This time, Lance wasn’t late.

The doors to bridge flew open, revealing him talking animatedly with Coran, the sleeves of his jacket pushed up to his elbows.

He laughed at something Coran said, throwing his head back and scrunching up his face as they stepped over the threshold.

Lance turned his head and took in the room, the remnants of laughter still in his eyes. As his gaze passed over Keith he smiled again, and Keith felt his face heat up.

“Princess, it’s nice to finally meet you!”

Allura raised a perfect eyebrow as Lance bowed exaggeratedly. “We’ve spoken many times before, Lance. This is hardly a first meeting.”

“Details, details,” Lance grinned again. He spun on his heel to face the paladins. “And you guys! I’ve missed you guys so much! Is today the day I finally get to try Hunk’s famous space cookies?”

Hunk’s face lit up. “If you stick around after this, I can let you try the batch I cooked this morning.”

“Speaking of ‘this’,” Coran held up a finger as he interjected, “we should make this official!”

The group gathered in front of the control panel, and Allura slid a tablet across its surface towards Lance. Its screen was open on a document that Lance leant down to read.

“So, I just… put my hand on it?” He said after a moment. “That’s what you said, right?” He looked up.

Shiro nodded, and Lance flicked his eyes to Keith. A second later he shrugged, pressing his palm to the screen and jumping a little as it whirred.

“Did it… burn off my fingerprints or something?”

Coran made a face. “It took a scan, my boy. Legally binding, I might add.”

Lance’s shoulders sagged and he drew his hand away. Then he smirked, letting his eyes drift back to Keith.

“You know, samurai, you’re legally obliged to like me now,” he said, leaning forward a little over the control panel.

Keith couldn’t help but let out a bubble of laughter. “Sure, whatever, space pirate.”

Lance’s smile turned bright and genuine, spreading across his face and bringing a flush behind the smattering of freckles on his cheeks.

Keith thought his heart might give out just looking at him.

“We’re glad to have you as an ally, Lance,” Allura said gently, in a tone that seemed to take Lance by surprise.

He looked to her with wide eyes. “You— you really mean that?”

“Of course,” she said, voice firmer but no less sincere, “you have been true to your word, and I truly believe you will continue to be. Besides” —she looked to the paladins— “the team likes you, and I trust their judgement.”

Lance reached up to rub the back of his neck, looking almost bashful as he blushed. “Thanks, guys.”

Hunk grinned. “As your first move as an official ally of Voltron, would you like to try some cookies?”

“Marry me, man.”

On the way out of the room, Lance knocks his shoulder against Keith’s. “Hey, samurai.”

Keith raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Hi, Lance.”

Lance fiddled with the end of one of his fingers. “I know you guys barely know me, and all that,” he started, ducking his head and looking at Keith through thick lashes, “but I was wondering if, maybe, you’d like to go out somewhere? I know there’s… not a lot for people like us to do in space other than missions, though.”

Keith tucked a lock of hair behind his ear, eyes drifting to the team in front of them in the corridor. “I’m sure we’d love to. You know the others like you, too.”

“No, I-“ Lance bit his lip and looked away. “I mean, yeah, but I just meant… you.”

 _Oh_. Keith was pretty sure he’d never been so embarrassed in his life.

And Lance looked as if he was feeling the same as he rubbed his fingers over the tip of his bright red ear.

Keith swallowed past the nervous excitement stuck in his throat. “I’d- yeah.”

Lance whipped his head up. “Huh?”

“I’d like that. Just me.”

Lance’s smile was dazzling, his cheeks stained red and eyes electric blue.

Keith was struck with a sudden thought. This was the same man who had cut down all those Galra sentries on Thuubous. He had to fight back the urge to laugh.

Lance seemed to notice Keith’s expression and his smile softened. “What?”

“You’re just not… what I expected,” he replied quietly, looking ahead at where Hunk was opening the doors to the kitchen, “in a good way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re a – what, a vigilante? – and here you are, asking me on…” he paused. This was- Lance was asking him out, right? That _was_ what was happening… right?

Lance huffed out a laugh. “Well, superheroes always have hot babe love interests, don’t they?”

Keith walked into the doorframe.


End file.
